Apparatus for marking sunken vessels.



No. 814,536. PATENTED MAR. 6, 1906. P. W.'JOHNSON.

APPARATUS FORMARKING SUN'KEN VESSELS.

APPLIUATION FILED JULY 1a, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IIQ. E.

WITNESSES. l/VVEIVTOR By MM ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

FREDERICK W. JOHNSON, OF DAWSON, CANADA, ASSIGNOR F ON E-HALF TO JOHN P.PETERSON, OF DAWSON, CANADA.

APPARATUS FOR MARKING SUNKEN IESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 6, 1906.

Original application filed September 23 1903 Serial N6. 1 74,309.Divided and this application filed July 18, 1905 Serial N 0. 2 70,19 1.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. JOHN- SON, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, and a resident of Dawson, in the Yukon Territory,Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and Improved Apparatus forMarking Sunken Vessels, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

The present application 1s a division of m application filedSeptember23, 1903, Serial No. 174,309, on which issued my patent datedMarch 28, 1905', No. 786,126.

The invention relates to a means for marking sunken vessels and forenabling the immediate recovery of the principal valuables of theshipsuch, for example, as the ships papers, specie, invoices, accounts,and other documents of the purser.

The apparatus comprises a buoy connecte with the vessel to rise to thesurface if the vessel sinks. The buoy as far as the present applicationis concerned may be of any desired form and is connected by means of aline with a reel arranged in a box or vault.-

The box or vault has compartments for the storage of the shipsvaluables, as before explained, and this box is in turn connected to thevessel by means of a line for which a second reel permanently mounted onthe vessel is provided. Should the vessel sink, the buoy willimmediately rise to the surface, thus marking the wreck, and by haulingup on the buoy-line the vault may be raised to the surface. It will beobserved that after the vault is raised the exact position of the wreckwill still be marked by the second line, which connects the vault withthe hull.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate asan example the preferred embodiment of the invention, in which drawingslike characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views,and in which- Figure 1 is a sectional view showing the partsconstituting the invention in position on the deck of the'vessel, saidview being in section on the line 1 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a section ontheline 2 2 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the housing in whichthe various parts of the apparatus are contained, said view showing thebox or vault within the housing.

10 in Fig. 1 indicates the deck of the vessel, and 11 a suitable housingwhich is built on the deck. Said housing is provided with door-openings12, closed by doors 14. I prefer to arrange the housing 11 in that partof the deck-house occupied as the pursers office so that the purser mayreadily have access to the interior of the housing through the openings12. The housing is provided with an orificed cover 15 on its top, thisbeing merely rested on the housing and readily removed, and rollers 16are mounted on the upper'edge of the housing, so that the buoy-line mayplay easily over the same.

17 indicates the buoy, which, as before stated, may be of any desiredform. The buoy is normally placed in the orifices in the cover 15 of thehousing 11 and has an annular flange 17 a loosely resting on said cover,as shown inFig. 1.

27 indicates the safe or vault. This is preferably constructed of sheetmetal and is provided, as best shown in Fig. 2, with two partitions,forming side compartments 28 and a middle compartment 29. The sidecompartments 28 are provided with doors 30,through which access may behad to the interior of the compartments. These compartments are intendedto have the safe of the ship placed therein. The central compartment 29carries a reel 31, on which is wound the buoyline 32. Said line passesbetween guide-roll ers 33 and through an opening in the top of the vault27 and has swivel connection with the buoy 17, as shown.

34 indicates antifriction-rollers attached to the side of the vault toenable the vault to be readily drawn out of the housing 11, and 35indicates similar rollers arranged to bear against the flanges of thereel 31. One of the flanges of the reel 31 is provided with ratchetteeth36, (shown best in Fig. 1,) and 37 indicates a forked rod straddlingsaid flange and bearing against said ratchet-teeth to prevent unwindingof the reel during the engagement of the rod therewith. This rod isconnected to the buoy 17 by shackles 38 and normally occupies theposition shown in Fig. 1. l/Vhen, however, the buoy rises, the rod 37 isdisengaged from the ratchet-flange of the reel 31 and said reel is freeto unwind.

The vault 27 has a line 39 connected with chafing of the line.

41 indicates a reel on which the line 39 is wound, and 42 indicates astout casing inclosing the reel to prevent fouling the same should thevessel capsize after sinking and objlects with the vessel be thrownagainst the ree In use the apparatus is placed on the deck of the vesseland the parts are adjusted, as shown in Fig. 1. Should the vessel sink,the buoy 17 will lift the cover 15 of the housing 11 and rise to thesurface. Simultaneously the reel 31 will be released, permitting theline 32 to unwind. When the buoy is discovered, the line 32 may behauled to the surface and the valuables of the ship recovered from thevault or safe 27. As said vault rises the line 39 will pay out from thereel 41 and will serve still to connect the sunken vessel with thesurface.

Having thus described the preferred form of my invention,what I claim asnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a vessel, of abuoy, a vault, a reel in thevault, a buoy-line connected to the buoy and to the reel, and a secondline connecting the vault with the vessel.

2. The combination of a buoy, a vault, a reel in the vault, a buoy-lineconnecting the buoy and reel, a reel mounted on the vessel, and a lineconnecting the vault and the second-named reel.

3. The combination with the decks of a vessel, of a housing builtthereon, a buoy, a vault capable of being contained within the housing,a reel within the vault, a line connecting the buoy and reel, a reelmounted on the vessel, and a line connecting the vault and thesecond-named reel.

4. The combination with a vessel, of a buoy, a vault, a line connectingthe two, and a second. line connecting the vault with the vessel. Y

5. The combination with a vessel, of a buoy, a vault, a line connectingthe two, a second line connecting the vault with the vessel, and ahousing mounted on the vessel and adapted normally to contain the vaultand buoy.

6. The combination of a buoy, a reel, a line connecting the reel andbuoy, and a restraining means for the reel, said restraining means beingconnected with the buoy.

7. The combination of a buoy, a reel having a ratcheted flange, a lineconnected with the buoy and wound over the reel, and a rod attached tothe buoy and normally connected with the ratcheted flange of the reel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

, FREDERICK W. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

GEO. A. OONDOGEORGE, O. E. TOOHSTROM.

